Decorative moldings have been applied to surfaces of various types of composite slabs such as wall panels, doors and the like. The purpose of the molding is to enhance the appearance of the slab such that when finished in either its natural finish or painted, a rich panel effect is created. Such a panel effect attempts to simulate the overall effect created by master woodworkers of old who would carve solid slabs of wood to create individual raised panels of stunning beauty. Of course, such woodcarving today is unheard of for a variety of reasons. For example, the cost of solid slabs of wood would be enormous and the time it would take to carve them by hand would be unreasonably long. Hence, modem building contractors have looked to substitute the solid slab construction with something more cost effective and timely.
In order to achieve the rich look of hand carved panels while maintaining a cost effective pricing structure, a variety of different combinations of base materials with veneers have been used. There are a number of varieties of base material sheets which are available at retail lumber yards and wholesale distributors which are covered with a variety of decorative wood veneers. For example, one common base material is composition board or particle board made of wood chips and/or other materials glued together to form a single sheet. Another common base material would be a single sheet of cheap plywood such as pine. The base material/veneer combinations are significantly less costly than solid sheets of quality wood such as walnut or oak, provide the same structural properties, and have the rich, opulent appearance of solid quality wood on the outer surface.
The problem with using sheets of base material with wood veneer is that cut edges are visible on the finished product. Visible cut edges reveal the true nature of the sheet, i.e., the base material/veneer combination, and the illusion of solid, quality wood panels is ruined. It is therefore necessary to devise a raised wood panel which is made from the base material/veneer combination but still gives the appearance of being constructed from a solid piece of quality wood.